Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-06-26
little COYOTE

Thc Indians had given us a good long
nj, and there hadn't been q wagon
train or coach attacked for weeks. The
times were getting terribly dull at the
post; billiards, cards, the old stories and
red jacket bitters, the only exh~ilarating,
drink there then, seemed 10 have no
eject in relieving the monotony. Just
tben Buffalo John" who owned Buffalo
Springs ranch, twenty miles up the Platte,
ssnt down an invitation to visit him and
have Q buffalo hunt. The commanding
c(lcer, a grizzlsd old veteran, who had
fought Indians and hunted game from the
Mississippi to the mouth of the Columbia
lor q third Of q century, was only too
Rid to accept Johns invitation. A party
a ten was organized, and on a beautiful
ncrning In September We started out.
We were well mounted and well armed,
and ready to fight or run as occasion
might require.
We arrived at Buffalo Springs early in
the afternoon, and were welcomed by
Buffalo John in true frontier style. His
place was q regular fortified frontier
trading post, and Ne always had a lot Of
freighters, hunters and trappers around
him; strange and odd characters they
were, too; some of them had been with
Bridger, Carson and Meek in the old
times, and their stories of adventures
with Indians, grizzlies and mountain
lions were better than any book ever
written. John, thougha young man, was
. noted hunter and Indian fighter, and
was a sort of hero among even those old
time heroes of the mountains. He was
q big as a moose, brave as a lion and as
gentle and tender hearted as a woman
qualities that endeared him to all. We
had often been to his place and found it
In all the confusion and topsy turvy con-
dition of all frontier places. This time it
wa neat as wax. There were white cur
tains at the windows, clean tablecloths
and bright spoons, knives and forks, and
everything in the house showed some
magical influence.
From another Don we could hear a
low lullaby in a rich, sweet voice, and
soon a young looking mother, with a girl
baby In her arms, came in and was intro
duced. Both of them werea revelation to
us old campaigners, who hadn't seen a
woman for months, nor a baby for a much
longer time. This young mother was fair,
with blue eyes, and hair with a gleam of
gold in It, and the sweetest face, express
ive Of all that IS good and gentle in
human nature, and the baby wa wonder
fully like the mother. The influence
which the presence of this fair mother
and her baby had upon such old hardened
frontiersmen as surrounded her was won
derful. We had planned a night with
bitters and poker, but all such ideas were
abandoned when these two appeared.
Everybody wanted to hold that baby and
talk baby-talk to it, and everybody did.
When it went to sleep, and the mother
put it into q little old shoe box, turned
into q cradle by the addition of rough
cottonwood rockers, we all took turns
in rocking il. When at last the mother
and baby retired we learned that they
belonged TO IN emigrant family of three
husband, wife and baby-en route to
California, and that they had stopped
from q train TO rest their stock, and that
John bad induced them, by big wages, to
stay and help run the ranch. The hus-
band tended the store, and wa a good
natursd, communicating fellow. We
sat ND and listened to stories by John and
the trappers, and midnight soon anne
and brought the down coach, which halted
long enough for the driver to call out to
John to be ON the lookout, as there was a
big Indian trail crossing the road, two or
three miles back, and that il looked as
though the Indians were going south.
This was q regular bombshell for our buff
fajo hunting in that neighborhood. AL
agreed that it didn't mean war, but a
hunt on their part, and that they would
camp at Summit springs, five or six miles
distant in the bluffs, just where we had
proposed TO 60. Whether on the hunt or
ON the fight, they were always ready TO
steal or take scalps, and We didn't pro-
pose 70 take the chances of q brush with
them-twenty or thirty to n against us.
John and the trappers looked to the
block doors and windows and put out
eentinels, and We spent the night in dis
cussing Indian wars and raids. John
gave an account of the attack on his place
two years before. when several hundred
Cbeyennes tried to capture it, but gave it
I'D as a bad job after he and the trappers
had killed fifteen Of them from the port
holes which pierced the walls of the
ranch in all directions.
The morning was ~anxiously awaited,
and daylight saw us all out ~reconnoiter-
ing, but there were no sings of Indians.
The buffalo were plainly in sight, ''nearer
than for q long time" s John said,
which showed that they had been dis
turbed by the Indian camp. We kept a
man on the lookout with a field glass,
and while we were at breakfast he called
out that he could see an Indian IN the
bluff. The mother, who had appeared at
breakfast with a scared, anxious face,
pressed the baby tightly in her arms, and
left for an inner and more secure room,
and we all went out to be ready for any
emergency. Sure enough, there was an
Indian, with blanket and leggings, COM
ing down the slopeuf the bluff. The old
trappers said he wouldn't get within rifle
range Of the ranch; that he was only sent
out to tempt us into an ambush; but they
were mistaken, for he came swiftly down
the long bluff, keeping as much hidden
as possible. and when he was compelled
to show himself, he would quickly change
his course, 80 as 10 be again out Of sight.
To those Of us who were only amateurs
in Indian movements, it seemed as though
he was trying to skulk up to the ranch
unseen, and some n proposed TO try a
shot at him with one Of our long range